JPMorgan takes aim at Wall Street regulator’s – Business News
JPMorgan has filed a movement to overturn a Wall Street regulator’s $4.25 million award to a broker who claims he was wrongly fired for ordering a deli platter on the company dime – a case that’s prompted different banks to attempt to crack down on jumbo judgements.
In a late Monday submitting in a California federal courtroom, JPMorgan took aim at the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, or FINRA, arguing longtime wealth adviser Brent Bodner took benefit of the regulator’s guidelines to secure an exorbitant payout over the spendy salami incident.
“FINRA exists to promote trust and confidence in the securities industry,” however its award to Bodner “punished” JPMorgan “for truthfully advising the investing community about Bodner’s misconduct, while rewarding a wrongdoer,” the bank stated, including that it was a “lawless award.”
Brent Bodner, a former JPMorgan broker who claims he was wrongly fired. Courtesy Brent Bodner
Big banks have been desirous to rein within the regulator’s capability to award huge punitive sums — particularly after it handed out a number of multimillion-dollar rewards, the Wall Street Journal reported.
Just this 12 months, appeals courts upheld a $133 million award in opposition to Stifel Financial and a $92 million one in opposition to UBS that have been awarded by FINRA – a non-governmental industry watchdog that guidelines on disputes amongst advisers, brokers, traders and establishments.
In March, FINRA requested for public touch upon its strategies for deciding arbitration instances. Financial powerhouses like Charles Schwab and LPL Financial, in addition to Sullivan & Cromwell, the law firm representing Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan, rapidly chimed in, based on the Journal.
The financial watchdog sides with establishments the bulk of the time, with solely 3% of all instances since 1989 leading to punitive awards, based on its own knowledge.
JPMorgan fired Bodner in May 2024 over a catered gathering he hosted at his Beverly Hills, Calif., home during Super Bowl weekend, saying he improperly used company money to pay for a $642.50 deli platter.
Bodner’s lawyer has argued that JPMorgan mischaracterized the gathering as a “Super Bowl party” when it was really a pre-approved business assembly at his home involving a shopper and a potential shopper.
FINRA awarded Bodner the eye-popping sum and advisable that his termination file be modified from “for cause” to “voluntary.”
JPMorgan accused Bodner of violating company coverage by expensing a “Super Bowl party.” Courtesy Brent Bodner
JPMorgan is trying to change the official cause for the firing back — as banks rail in opposition to the regulator’s requirement that it present a cause for worker termination on information which are usually made public.
In its submitting, JPMorgan argued Bodner solely filed his accusations of defamation and wrongful termination as a result of he noticed the explanation the bank listed his termination as “for cause” as a substitute of “voluntary.”
The bank stated it “accurately recorded the reason for Bodner’s termination” as violation of company coverage, and Bodner “responded by doing what has unfortunately become all too common for FINRA-affiliated employees unwilling to accept the consequences of their own misconduct.”
Meanwhile, Bodner’s lawyer, Marc Rosen, has additionally criticized the financial authority for requiring workers to enter into arbitration for non-securities issues, and for permitting banks to take over former workers’ purchasers during such disputes.
JPMorgan is looking for to overturn the $4.25 million punitive award. REUTERS
“Pretextual terminations that tarnish careers of honest employees is never permissible,” Rosen informed The Post in a assertion.
“The Arbitrators saw and heard all of the evidence,” Rosen stated, including that he plans to defend his shopper in opposition to JPMorgan’s new submitting and file their own movement to verify the award.
